Vivid Violence: WWII in Colour

On this week's podcast, I remarked that I skipped out on football this past weekend a decided to watch something less brutal: a documentary on World War II. You probably thought it was a cheap joke, and it was. But it was also 100% true. And I can't recommend enough the World War II in HD Colour documentary series, which you can find on Netflix.

It was originally released in 2008, so it's not like it's brand spanking new. But then again, we haven't really had any major updates to WWII since, so it's probably still fresh. And even if it is seven years old, it's still unlike anything I've seen before.

Now I'll admit, a lot of this being awestruck might have to do with my blissful ignorance on the subject. I didn't even know that France was fully under Nazi occupation. Like I had an idea, but I never new for sure under they showed me the actual footage of the Swastika flag being raised on the Eiffel Tower. After all, it was a Frenchman who taught us all that seeing is believing.

Aside from a few maps interspersed here and there, this documentary series consists entirely of footage from all over the war and all around the world. Each episode is broken down into one of the war's many facets. It helps someone like me, someone who had put the years 1935-1945 out of my memory bank, to understand just how massive the scale of World War II was.

We move from land fighting on islands in the South Pacific in one episode, to naval conflict between two sides trying to secure control of the Arctic Ocean in the next. That's without mentioning all the battles in England, Egypt,  Russia, and everywhere in between. And wherever you land, you're treated with a detailed look at the technology, weaponry, and strategies that made this perhaps the most fascinating and destructive war in recorded history.

You have to take a step back to think about all the astonishing shit that happened in WWII. Imagine our modern-day 24-hour news cycle covering the occupation of France, or the daily bombings in Britain, or Pearl Harbor, or the way the Nazis leveled Malta, or the UK's carpet-bombing over cities in Germany that had no strategic significance. Wolf Blitzer would have blown a gasket.

Actual reaction when a producer told him he
had to talk about Trump

The only area in which this series falls short is how little it goes into character development. Between Hitler, Stalin, Churchill, and Mussolini, the WWII story featured plenty of remarkable characters. And yet it always felt as though we weren't looking at them as much as we should be. I know there are plenty other ways to scoop up that information, but let's face it: no matter how many individual soldiers were involved, this war doesn't happen without the crazy collection of world leaders who rose to power all at the same time.

That's actually why no one needs to worry about World War Three any time soon. It's not happening without at least 1 egomaniac, self-absorbed autocrat. One who could possibly be hellbent on eliminating those of a certain ethnicity from his country in an attempt to keep it pure. And he'd also need to have a super powerful military and a willingness to go after any country that looks at him the wrong way. Oh wait, never mind, I just brought up that guy, we're fucked.

But even if President Trump runs a decades-long crusade through the Middle East, it's almost inconceivable that anything like WWII would happen again. And if you need proof, just go back and peruse through this series, in all its vivid color, and remind yourself just how remarkably catastrophic it was.

It certainly reminded me, but I'm only halfway through. No spoilers please.